England currently has 317 local authorities. That number will drop to between 150-187 after the local government reorganisation (LGR) process is over. This represents a significant change and, without careful planning, settlements that are already struggling could end up being left further behind.
Take, for example, coastal towns and cities which currently have a council headquartered within their boundaries. There are 33 of them in total. Twenty-four of those are going through the LGR process and only two – Brighton & Hove and Plymouth – are guaranteed to exist post-April 2028. The remaining 22 authorities are subject to proposals, or multiple proposals, which will replace them with a bigger unitary covering a larger geographical area.
